Academic & Athletic Branding

Does your school’s academic or athletic brand feel tired, clunky, or a bit outdated? Maybe it doesn’t represent you well, or it’s not used consistently. Or perhaps you don’t have brand standards in place to guide how faculty, staff, and outside vendors implement your brand. It could be you’re just tired of your school’s branding looking less polished and professional than other schools in your community.

Whatever your motivations, perhaps it’s time to rethink your school’s branding. Whether you’re considering a light refresh, a full rebrand, or perhaps even a name change, North Star Marketing can help.

At North Star Marketing, we help independent schools build strong academic and athletic brands that cultivate school spirit and resonate with prospective families. Whether your school needs a new academic brand, a brand refresh, a new athletic brand, or a brand standards guide to help you consistently use your logo, our team will:

Get to know your school culture and who you are
Understand the challenges you’ve experienced with your existing brand
Engage you in the creative process as we build your new brand
Help you launch a cohesive brand structure that will serve your school for years to come

When you engage North Star Marketing's branding solutions, you can expect to see an:

Boost in word-of-mouth

Increased brand professionalism and consistency

A stronger web presence

Branding Solutions

School Brand Identity Program

This program is built for school that are:

Moving away from outdated branding
Changing names
Merging with another school
Launching a new campus
Launching a new Age-and-Stage™
Developing iconography to visualize their educational approach

School Brand Refresh Program

This program is built for school brands that:

Want to modernize their current branding
Have inconsistent brand applications
Lack an important element, such as tagline or accent color

Athletic Brand Alignment

This solution is designed for schools that are:

Launching a new athletics program
In need of an athletic brand that works well with their academic brand
Investing in school culture by developing an athletic brand
Looking for a sub-brand structure for each sport while maintaining a consistent feel

Brand Standards Guide Development

This solution is designed for schools that:

Have no written standards to guide brand application
Have not identified standard colors and fonts
Need to document foundational understandings for brand implementation
Need to develop a library of approved brand files

Gold winner of the 2022 InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Awards for Graphic Identity Redesign

Our Branding Work

Considering a branding project?

Check out our Healthy Enrollment blog to learn more about when it’s time to rebrand and what to expect during a school branding project. If you have questions, our team of Solutions Advisors would be happy to listen to your school’s specific challenges and goals and provide options for moving forward.

Why independent schools choose North Star’s branding solutions:

We only work with schools

When you engage with North Star, you don’t have to worry about getting a generic, less-than-memorable brand because our designers know and understand the education industry. If your mascot is a Lion (or Bear … or Eagle), we’ll know just how to make you stand out from the other Lions in town — in the right way.

We’ll involve you in the creative process

We want you to have a brand that you love. That means getting to know your team, listening to your school’s story, and reflecting on opportunities to visually communicate your school’s history and culture. From choosing hues to reviewing sketches, you will be an active participant during each step of the creative process.

We’ll help you launch your brand

When all is said and done and you have a new, amazing brand … it’s not really done, is it? Your brand rollout plan has the ability to impact all of your other marketing efforts. Through our step-by-step guide on how to roll out a new school brand, we’ll coach you through nine focus areas that will help you introduce your brand to your community.

Ready to see what a new brand can do for your school?

Connect with one of our solutions advisors to learn more about North Star Marketing’s branding solutions. We’d love to hear more about your needs and goals.